Once again set to "Landslide," the show more or less returns to the status quo - albeit with a more despondent Stan, now aware and frustrated by the static nature of his life. Cartman and Kyle split up in a fight over the origins of Cartman's burgers, and Sharon sadly returns to her implicitly unhappy marriage with Randy. Stan initially fights against all the new directions in his life, but the episode ends with him finally realizing that change and growth can be a good thing - only for his entire life to be suddenly reset. "Ass Burgers" focuses on much of South Park shifting towards a new status quo, with Cartman and Kyle opening a hamburger stand and Sharon living away from Randy. ![]() Stone was against the idea of simply restoring the show's status quo and forgetting "You're Getting Old", but was convinced by Vernon Chatman (a producer on the show and the voice of recurring character Towlie) that the reset itself being played tragically could work both as a very effective dark joke about the structure of the series. Parker and Stone eventually decided it would have been too far off a shift, and they decided to use the ending of "Ass Burgers" to largely reset the status quo. Taking a big dramatic swing with the show set up plenty of new ideas, but the creators steadily realized that shifting fully to focus on the character drama would take away from the irreverent humor at the core of the show's enduring appeal. The concept of keeping Stan and Sharon separated was bandied around, but the pair bristled at the idea of allowing Randy to fall out of focus. During the audio commentary for the episodes, Parker admitted they considered keeping Randy and Sharon separated for the rest of Season 15, while showcasing different dynamics across South Park(something further explored in later episodes), potentially shifting the entire direction of the show.Īs explained in the commentary for "Ass Burgers," Trey Parker and Matt Stone - along with the rest of South Park's writing staff - initially had no idea on how to advance that plot. ![]() ![]() The pair was initially unsure between "You're Getting Old" and the subsequent "Ass Burgers" they would ever necessarily simply reset the status quo to what it had been before. In reality, the impetus for leaving so much unresolved at the end of "You're Getting Old" was to riff on the sequential dramas of then-modern shows, with the duo revealing their appreciation for serialized storytelling - an element that would become more common in future seasons of South Park.
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